The Pararoos squad poses for a team photo during their last training camp in March.

WA seven in Pararoos squad

Jun 09, 2017

Football West News

Seven West Australians have been included in a 22-player Pararoos squad which will assemble in Melbourne on Saturday for a three-day training camp before the Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) World Championships.

Chris Barty, Raymond Ellery, Rodrigue Niyongere, Nicholas Prescott, Jordan de Stefano, Ben Tirabosco and Alessandro la Verghetta will be part of the team, making WA the state with the second-highest representation in the squad.

Football West Chief Executive Officer James Curtis said the inclusion of seven players in the squad highlights the level of football talent being produced in Western Australia.

“WA are leading the way for Paralympic football and we’re excited to have seven people representing the state in the Pararoos’ training camp squad,” he said.

“The inclusion of this talented group will encourage the participation of people with a disability in the football community.”

Pararoos Head Coach Kai Lammert will use the camp, which will be held at ABD Stadium the home ground of PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria club Hume City, to put the squad through its paces.

“This camp gives us another chance to look at some new players and also time to further develop our playing style and the way we want to go about it at the World Championship,” Lammert said.

Tirabosco is one of three new faces named in the squad who were not part of the camp in March, along with New South Wales duo Harrison Dowdell and Taj Lynch.

“Ben gives us a chance to look at an alternate C6 player, Harrison is an exciting young player from the Young Pararoos who has just come back from injury that we’re keen to give a chance to, and Taj is from the New South Wales system, he has been doing really well there so we want to see how he goes in the national team setup,” said Lammert.

“We don’t have much time together so we need to make sure that every session we have is used wisely.

“These camps are extremely valuable for us as a team as we look ahead to Argentina in September.”

This is the Pararoos’ second training camp in preparation for September’s Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) World Championships in Argentina.